Not So Charming
by StrangeSpells3
Summary: A honeymoon filled with mixed up fairy tales, a new gift, and an unexpected battle.
1. Chapter 1

This is based loosely on a combination of the book and the movie. It's meant to entertain, and hopefully, I'll capture the best of both worlds. Enjoy! And please read and review! *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
The fairy dressed in pink stood staring at the darkened gates of the castle. Some how, in her quest to quit using "big magic;" Lucinda had managed to forget how to use a watch. Not only was she late for the wedding, she'd missed the ceremony entirely. She knew she shouldn't, she knew it was wrong, she knew she'd vowed to quit. But this was such a special wedding. The royal couple deserved happiness, after they'd been through so much.  
Lucinda felt the old tingling. All her gifts weren't that bad. There were some who'd had no complaints at all. And besides, so few fairies made uses of their gifts, why shouldn't humans be given the opportunity to experience the wonders of magic.  
Suddenly, her feet were in the air, she was gliding over pastures, rolling hills, houses, a startled horse suddenly reared and darted in the opposite direction it's rider had been trying to get it to go.  
The white carriage gleamed as it came into sight. Lucinda slowed her speeding body to the same rate of the carriage.  
A smile shone across her face. She'd thought about this one, absolutely, without a doubt, final gift. A gift for Prince Char, and his Princess, Ella.  
So much love was between them, a love that would blossom beautifully. But she'd seen so many other couples who'd seemed to hold the same promise, except their flaw fell within the fact that those coupled always seemed to end up in a mess because they were never really open with their partner. She grinned as her fingers tingled. "I give you both the gift of being open, never a thought hidden, never a word left unspoken." ***  
Ella woke up suddenly, a strange feeling washed over her body, as though someone had dumped ice water over her, but she was still dry. A chill rippled down her spine as she tried to shake the feeling.  
Char, who she'd been resting against stirred gently in his sleep opening his steely eyes as a tired grin crossed his face. "Are you all right?  
"I feel like someone dumped ice cold water over my head, but I'm completely dry," Ella blurted out. She closed her mouth quickly, glancing around the carriage. Had she really said that? She hadn't felt the odd compassion to blurt something out like that since the curse...But, it wasn't possible...was it? 


	2. Chapter 2

I'm back! I'm sorry it took so long to update. I really wanted to get to it, but with the end of term, it was just about impossible. So here's my newest chapter. I hope you like it!  
Please read and review, so I'll know if I should continue with the next chapter.

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"What are you talking about?" Char asked raising his eyebrows. "Why are you awake?" he added, suddenly.  
Ella whirled around and stared at him. "I just told you."  
"I'm too tired to do this, let's go back to sleep," he stated. His eyes narrowed as he tilted his head. The strong line of his jaw twisting as he locked eyes with Ella. "Am I really saying this out loud?"  
"Of course you are, how else would I hear you?" Ella answered. She clamped her hand over her mouth.  
Char leaned forward. "What do you know that you're not telling me?"  
"Order me to do something," Ella stated.  
"Don't tell me what to do," he proclaimed suddenly, leaning away from her, the same puzzled look across his handsome face still.  
"Tell me to do something," she exclaimed. Then she sat back with a grin. "I just ignored your order! I don't have to listen to you."  
"I beg your pardon!" he exclaimed. "Ella, what is going on?"  
She reached across the small space and grasped her husband's hand. "I have no idea, but it's scaring me." She briefly closed her eyes, she couldn't believe she'd said that. "We need to figure out what's wrong."  
The carriage gave a sudden jerk as it stopped.  
Ella leaned around looking out the window her hand clamped firmly over her mouth.  
A small quaint town stood around them, under the cover of the night it was hard to see anyone besides the silhouettes of those close to the windows, lit by a flickering candle.  
"Your majesties, we are having problems with the carriage wheel," the chauffeur explained. "We will find you a place to sleep and we will leave first thing in the morning."  
"Wonderful," Char muttered, a confused expression crossing his face as he bit his bottom lip.  
The carriage jolted forward, but went as a slower pace until stopped. Looking out the window, Ella's eyes danced over the quaint figure of an inn. The lights were off inside most of the room, the small sign bearing the name was impossible to see in the darkness of night. With a deep breath, she reached toward the door, slowly allowing herself to move her hand away from her mouth. No sudden outbursts yet. With a deep breath, she stepped out of the carriage.  
"Welcome to Fute!"  
Char raised his dark eyebrows. "Fute?"  
"Yes," the woman who'd greeted them grinned. She was A large woman, a dark blue dress was under the white speckled apron she wore.  
"Like foot?" Char continued. Ella's elbow dug into his side and he turned and glared at her. "What was that for?  
"Be quiet," Ella hissed.  
The woman gave a loud appreciative laugh. "It's perfectly all right, Your Majesties."  
A bell boy rushed out and grabbed the bags off the coach. Ella grinned appreciatively, dropping her brown eyes to the ground, then she noticed a peculiar sight. "Uh, where are your shoes?" she blurted out.  
Once again, the innkeeper laughed, but this time it was nervous chuckle. "Well, there's been some problems recently," she began, but quickly added, "Nothing that will interfere with your stay while your carriage is getting fixed."  
"Well, what kind of problems," Char prodded.  
The hostess looked worried and glanced towards the door.  
"Char is the King," Ella stated.  
"And Ella is the Queen," Char interjected, staring pointedly at her. "It is your title, weather or not you like it."  
"What Char is saying is besides the point," she replied, gesturing towards the door. "Please, we'd like to help."  
The innkeeper finally relented and led them inside to a small room behind the front desk. Two overstuffed chair sat in corners, the room was so small they almost touched. The innkeeper sat three mugs on the table and poured in what appeared to be tea.  
"What's your name?" Ella asked, taking the cup that was offered.  
"My name is Franca, your majesty," she nodded, dropping her head in a mock bow.  
"Please—" Ella began.  
"It's your title," Char interrupted.  
"I know," she insisted. "I just don't care for it."  
"Let's change the topic," he replied, turning towards Franca. "Why don't you tell us what's been happing."  
Franca turned her cup in her hand and took a deep breath before she began. "You've heard the story about the elves and the shoemaker, right? Well, that took place here. The once the elves began to bring in business, the shoemaker has brought in possibly the largest chunk of money. But shoes began to disappear, not just ones from the shoe maker, old shoes, new shoes, house shoes, dress shoes, sandals, and even horse shoes!"  
"There's been a crime spree of someone stealing shoes?" Char asked, leaning forward.  
"Yes. But no break ins, and nothing else was stolen, just shoes. Some say it's the elves getting their revenge," Franca explained.  
"But I thought the shoemaker left tiny clothes for the elves," Ella stated.  
"Not all elves are tiny," Char stated. "Could the tiny clothes have offended the elves?"  
"No, because the shoemaker saw the ones who made the shoes, they were tiny," Franca stated. "And now, no one knows what to do, whenever new shoes are made, they are taken that very same night."  
Ella glanced down at her shoes then at Char. "Sounds like we have out first royal problem." 


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks for the great constructive reviews. I hope you enjoy this chapter!  
Please read and review!

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Ella took a deep breath as she swept her long dark hair over her shoulder. The gentle white silk of her pajamas felt smooth against her skin, but she felt chilled. She crossed her arms as she stared out the window to the street below.  
Silence encased the streets, not even the soft song of crickets could be heard. The gentle orange flicker of candles had been extinguished from the windows.  
With a gentle sigh, she turned from the window. For a moment, she forced herself to ignore her husband who was lying on his back in the bed. A fear had rooted itself in her that if she opened her mouth, words that she didn't mean would tumble out.  
She knelt down and picked up her shoes, a black pair that were extremely "un-queen" like and placed them directly across from the bed.  
"What are you doing?"  
"Setting my shoes where I can see them," she answered. Her eyes dashed from her position on the floor to her pillow on the bed. Would she have clear view from the bed?  
"So, you can catch the shoe thieves?" The tinkling of amusement in his voice caused a ripple of annoyance to run down her spine.  
Ella stood up and turned to face Char. "Why are you so reserved about doing things for your kingdom?"  
"I'm not reserved," he stated. The puzzled look that crossed his handsome face instantly confirmed to Ella that he was suffering from whatever undeniable urge to blurt out whatever thought crossed his mind.  
"Char," she stated, sitting on the bed beside him. She gently pushed a curly blonde lock away from his face and smiled. "You're a king now. And you're going to be a wonderful king. Just like your father. But you have to become involved. You can't expect problems to just go away."  
"Do we have to do this now?" Gone was the chiming amusement, gone also was the patient tone usually used with her. Now, the tone could only be classified as a blend of whiny and annoyance.  
Ella searched his face, the words poured from her mouth. "What's happening to us?"  
This statement promptly caught his attention as he leaned toward her. "You've noticed it too?"  
"Of course I've noticed it," she snapped. She fiercely bit down on her lip. The will to control what she said seemed to have vanished and the first words she thought flew instantaneously out of her mouth. "It's like I can't control what I want to say."  
Char sat up and nodded. "I've felt the same way."  
Ella smiled in relief. He wasn't so different from her, for a brief moment she had started to feel panicked. "I was worried that I'd made an awful choice."  
Char's eyebrows rose as he looked curiously at her. "What do you mean?"  
Ella clamped her hand over her mouth, muffling the words she could not stop. She turned away from him, grabbed a brush and raked it through her hair. She waited until Char fell quiet and she turned around. A smile crept across her lips as her eyes swept over his sleeping figure. His strong chest rose and fell with each breath, the gentle curls of his golden colored hair fell across his face.  
She sat down beside him and lightly kissed his cheek. "Maybe I didn't make a mistake after all."  
She gently blew out the candles around the room and tucked her legs into bed. With a sigh, she propped her pillow up behind her back, waiting silently for her eyes to adjust to the dim light.  
Sometime, Ella must have dozed off, but she distinctly heard a faint click. Her brown eyes flung open as she sat sharply up. Her hands rubbed her eyes as she peered into the darkness. The dark outlines of small figures near the end of the bed caught her attention.  
Ella leapt up from the bed. "Drop those shoes!" she commanded.  
There was a strange cackling in the room, something whooshed past Ella, she felt her balance thrown off; the room seemed to tilt as she fell back onto the bed. The cackling became a chittering sound. Her eyes went wildly around the room. Char was also sitting up.  
"What's going on?"  
Ella angrily swung her legs over the edge of the bed and flicked on the light. "We are now shoeless." 


	4. chapter 4

I'm really sorry to anyone who tried to review but couldn't because anonymous reviews were blocked. I'm relatively new and didn't think about the previous settings. So, now that my blunder is fixed, please read and review!

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Ella impatiently tapped her long slender fingers along the banister. Char stood in front of the check in desk discussing the 'shoe-incident' with Franca. She descended the stairs, her eyes looking around the inn, wondering where the elves could have entered from.  
  
"Does the shoemaker still live in town?" she interrupted, the words flying from her lips. She closed her eyes for a minute, reminded herself to be patient, once they discovered what was wrong with the elves, then they would figure out what had happened to herself and Char.  
  
Franca looked up and nodded. "Yes. In fact, he lives just down the street."  
  
Ella looked at Char and raised her delicate dark eyebrows. "Shall we take a walk?"  
  
Char nodded, and smiled curtly at Franca, then followed her out the door. He looked down at the cobblestone roads and smirked at Ella's sock covered feet. Ella caught he eye and pulled a pair of socks from her purse and handed it to him.  
  
"Thank you," Char replied. He leaned back against the wall for support as he lifted his legs in turn to put on the thick soled socks.  
  
"Better?" Ella smiled.  
  
"Much, thank you," he fell into step beside her and slipped his hand into hers. "You're always thinking."  
  
"Well, it's what a queen should do. Right?" Ella asked, tossing the thick dark tresses over her shoulder as she held her chin up in a mock of the regal manner.  
  
"I like you the way you are," Char assured her.  
  
"Really," Ella stated, looking at him.  
  
"Well," Char stated. A brief panicked look crossed his face, as though he wanted to stop speaking, but couldn't. "You push a lot."  
  
"I push?" Ella echoed. "What do you mean I push? Just because I want you to be the good king that I know you can be if you just try?"  
  
"Ella, shut up," Char murmured, pressing his fingers to his temples. His eyes suddenly grew wide and he clamped his hand over his mouth.  
  
Ella reminded herself that he didn't mean it the way it sounded, she reminded herself to be calm, but except hearing the words inside her head, she realized she'd said them out loud.  
  
Char stopped and turned towards her. "What is going on?"  
  
"Something has happened that whatever we're thinking is the first thing to fly out of our mouths. So we have to be patient with each other, because we no longer have a filter. We just say what comes to mind no matter how irritated we may be or how much we don't mean it."  
  
Char stated at her for several minutes before he dared to move his hand away from his mouth and speak. "Then don't you think we'd better work on our problem before we go off trying to solve the rest of the kingdom's?"  
  
"We can't just think of us right now. There's some reason that the elves have decided that they need every pair of shoes in this town. What I don't understand is why the elves would turn like that," Ella pondered. She paused and looked around the small town which seemed to be slowly waking up.  
  
"You know what we need to do right?" Char asked.  
  
Ella looked at him and nodded. "We need to find Slannen." 


End file.
